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Bible Dictionaries
Pilate
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or PILATE . Pontius Pilatus, a Roman of no known family, succeeded Valerius Gratus as procurator of Judæa in a.d. 26. He possibly owed his appointment to Sejanus, and his administration, as described from the Jewish standpoint, shows either that he shared the anti-Jewish feelings of Sejanus or that he failed to understand the temper of the people with whom he bad to deal. His first offence was not allowing the soldiers to remove the images from their standards on entering Jerusalem. These images were worshipped by the soldiers, and were therefore symbols of idolatry. A deputation of Jews waited on Pilate for five days, and refused to desist though threatened with instant death. He was compelled to give way, but subsequently set up in the palace of Herod tablets dedicated to the Emperor, which was taken as an attempt to introduce the Cæsar-worship already flourishing in the rest of the Empire. Only an order from Tiberius compelled him to yield a second time. He gave further offence by a more justifiable action. The need of water in the city was much felt at the time of festivals, and Pilate proceeded to construct a new aqueduct at the expense of the Temple treasure. The Sanhedrin might have ordered such a work, but as Pilate’s act it caused a riot which was not quelled without bloodshed. To these incidents we must add the massacre of some Galilæans at the very altar of sacrifice, referred to in Luke 13:1 , but not otherwise explained. The end of Pilate’s rule was brought about by a disturbance in Samaria. Tradition said that the vessels of the Tabernacle had been buried on Mt. Gerizim, and a band of armed men escorted thither an impostor who promised to reveal them. Pilate sent troops to the spot, who, after a massacre, dispersed the multitude. Complaint was made to Vitellius, the legatus of Syria, who seems at this time to have had authority over the governor of Judæa. Pilate was ordered to justify himself at Rome (a.d. 36), out before he arrived there Tiberius had died (March, a.d. 37), and he was not re-appointed (Joseph, Ant. XVIII. iii, 1 iv. 2). Eusebius states that he committed suicide. The ‘Acts of Pilate’ and his letters to the Emperor are late forgeries.
Pilate would therefore be to us only one of a series of unsuccessful procurators, but for the fact that his years of office covered the period of Christ’s ministry. From the accounts of our Lord’s trial we learn more of him than from any other source.
Except at the times of the great feasts the governors usually stayed at Cæsarea; but Pilate was probably present with reinforcements to repress any disorder during the Passover, and had his headquarters in the fortress known as the Tower of Antonia, which adjoined the Temple on the N. side. The prætorium formed part of this fortress (but see Prætorium), and on this occasion, while the prisoner was led inside, the accusers remained below the steps which led into the hall, lest they should be rendered unclean for the feast by entering a building defiled by leaven. Pilate examined Jesus inside the hall, and came outside each time he wished to speak to the accusers. Jesus had been brought to him to be condemned to death, this penalty being out of the power of the Sanhedrin; and at first they expected Pilate to pass sentence on their simple statement that he was ‘a malefactor’ ( John 18:28-32 ). Pilate was too Roman for this penalties in their power they might inflict, but if he was to add his authority he required a reason. Therefore (avoiding the charge of blasphemy) they accused Jesus of ‘forbidding tribute’ and calling himself ‘Christ, a king’ ( Luke 23:2 ). Pilate returned inside, and by questions assured himself that the prisoner claimed only what he would have called a ‘philosophical kingship’ an idea familiar to him, if only from the Stoics. Hardly believing that truth was attainable (as he showed by the scornful answer, ‘What is truth?’), he was yet prepared, like many Romans of his day, to patronize one who thought he had attained to it ( John 18:33-38 ). From this time onwards we must regard the trial as a series of attempts on Pilate’s part to release Jesus without too great offence to the Jews. (1) Hearing that He came from Galilee, he sends Him to Herod Antipas , who was at Jerusalem for the feast. If Herod ‘claimed jurisdiction’ over the prisoner he might have released Him, but he had no more power to condemn a man to death in Jerusalem than the Jews had. The courtesy reconciled Herod and Pilate, their former enmity being due to the fact that Herod sent private reports to Rome and was regarded as the Emperor’s spy. But when Herod failed to get either reply or miracle from Jesus, he sent Him back to Pilate ( Luke 23:6-12 ). (2) It was a custom (whether Jewish or Roman in origin) to release a prisoner in honour of the Passover. Pilate proposed to release Jesus, but, persuaded by the priests, the multitude clamoured for Barabbas ( Matthew 27:15-21 , Mark 15:6-11 , Luke 23:13-19 , John 18:39-40 ). (3) After solemnly washing his hands, as if absolving himself of responsibility for condemning an innocent man ( Matthew 27:24-25 ), Pilate hoped to satisfy the rancour of the accusers by scourging the prisoner. ‘I will chastise him and release him’ ( Luke 23:16; Luke 23:22 ). But when Jesus came forth from the scourging, the Jews for the first time brought forward the cry that He ‘made himself the Son of God’ ( John 19:7 ). To such as Pilate, Greek mythology would make it not incredible that ‘the son of a god’ should be on earth, and in the decadence of their own religion the Romans were lending a ready ear to the mysterious religions of the East. Moreover, Pilate’s superstitions fear had already been aroused by the report of his wife’s dream ( Matthew 27:19 ). Again, therefore, he questioned Jesus. But at length the Jews prevailed with the cry, ‘If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend’ ( John 19:12 ). The threat that the province would accuse him at Rome for treason overcame Pilate’s scruples. An accusation for ‘treason’ might mean death under Tiberius. Pilate gave way, caused his throne or tribunal to be brought on to the tessellated space in front of the prætorium (called ‘Gabbatha’ in Aramaic), and there pronounced final judgment. But in the taunting words, ‘Behold your king!’ and ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ as well as in the inscription on the cross, which he refused to alter in spite of protest, he wreaked upon the Jews such revenge as lay in his power.
In this unjust complaisance we have an illustration of one danger in the strict supervision which Augustus and Tiberius maintained over provincial government. In the main it was a great benefit, but it enabled the provincials to intimidate a weak governor. The weak points in Pilate’s character stand out strongly. He seems to have been a sceptic in principle, but not free from superstition, in this resembling perhaps most of the upper class among the Romans in his day. He had probably not taken the trouble to understand the fierce passions of the people whom he was sent to govern, and when worsted by them in early encounters, the scorn which Romans felt for Jews became in him something like hatred, and a strong desire to be avenged on their leaders at all costs save one, namely, disgrace at Rome. For before all things he seems to have considered his own position.
But it is very unlikely that Tiberius, who was jealous for good provincial government, would have allowed Pilate to remain procurator for ten years if his administration had been as had as our knowledge of him would imply. It is easy to under-estimate the difficulties of his post. The province of Judæa included not only Judæa proper, but Samaria and Idumæa; and in addition to its normal population there was at the time of great feasts, particularly the Passover, an influx of Jews from other provinces, which made the temporary population of Jerusalem sometimes between two and three millions. And this population was animated, as no other race was, by a religious fervour capable of passing on occasion into political excesses difficult to cope with, since in the eyes of a large minority submission to foreign rule was religious apostasy. But the province ranked only as a ‘minor imperial province’; its governor was a procurator, not a legatus or prÅ“fectus , and to control the difficult elements in the population he had only 3000 troops, quartered usually at Cæsarea, besides small detachments used to garrison Jerusalem and Sebaste. The governor usually went up to Jerusalem for the Passover time, but he must have felt that in face of a sudden national movement he would be powerless; and it is no small testimony to Roman powers of administration that for 60 years the series of procurators in Judæa managed to postpone more serious conflicts. The fault would seem to rest with the central authority, which did not realize that in administering the small province of Judæa it had to deal not with the province alone, but with all the millions of Jews scattered throughout the Empire, profoundly earnest in religious convictions, regarding Judæa as the holy centre of all they held dearest, and maintaining direct communication with the Sanhedrin, to which the Romans themselves had allowed a certain authority over all Jews throughout the Empire. Hence, mistaking the nature of the work, they sent as procurators second-rate men, who were often (like Pilate) nominees of imperial favourites, and who were probably looking forward to their promotion from the moment that they landed in Cæsarea. Had Judæa been definitely attached to the province of Syria, it would at any rate have been governed by men with a wider outlook.
A. E. Hillard.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Pilate'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/p/pilate.html. 1909.
